Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1887-01-07
DAKOTA WINTERS.
Grain Fields that Reach to the Horizon
on All sides.
Especial Correspondence

on All Sides. IN
Especial Correspondence.
New York, Dec. go went to Dakota in
the September of last y-ear-haryest time in
that country. ! had left Portland behind me
a little while Portland the loose, in.
Trail county--and found myself in, the midst
of a grain field that reached to the horizon in
all directions. A blue, autumnal sky was
overhead. A soft, nutumnal win blew in
through the open windows of my car. Over
the rattle of the rails changed the machinery
OF innumerable mowers, moving the wheat
in great, glittering swaths. I "a u
BILE mowefsn--I mean it.
"North-woo-oo-d;p yelled the brakes
man. z1 ss5tss7sgYy
! stepped out on the platform.
$50 this is TO be my home, is it?' I said to
myself. At
OF but I felt lonesome and sick at heart as
i paused in front of the depot and looked
round me. 1t was a town OF perhaps 20o, in
habitants. The houses were all frame and
painted a CHASTITY, gFaring white. They hud-
died close together, as II they were afraid of
getting lost in the, illimitable green prairie
that spread off to the sky line. Not a. hill
aud not a hollow was Visible. The plain was
as nat as your parlor floor. No foliage broke
the monotony. In all that wild, wide land
scape no tree lent q rtouchxofg change and
beauty to the, scene. The only thing that
broke the eternal samenesS of the picture was
thesod sliaiity of a5ifarmer here and there,
supplemented by a l,ayseack.
swell! Welln ! muttered, ard with a
heavy heart | started for the printing Office.
1t was a little bit of a shanty. s@ 3
"fss this the Office of Thel--sn I inquired
Of Il tlashing young fellow who sat a~straddle
OF a stool, licking type. Il
Yes" 1 introduced myself. 81 am Just
going to prtss,r continued the dashing young
felh5sv, wlI" turned outatos he the editor, pro-
prietnr,. soil iinrtana composition of the paper.
my wife lpnlsI her wrist this morning and
cart roll. VIII you roit for meg"
1 declined the distinguished honor as gruce-
fully as | knew how
ave are IA little crowded for room, as you
see" continued the journalist.
l didn't contradict him. The shanty had
only one apartment, 1Gx20, and it served
for editorial sauctnm press room, news room,
bedcLamber, parlor, kitchen and conserva-
tory.
A few days later I drove out into the coun-
try with the editor. We passed a sod shanty.
1t consisted of a cellar six feet deep. A sod
structure of the same height was built over
it. The whole was thatclled with straw. A
cave close by attracted my attention.
: Winter came, and what surprised me most
was that tile snHws SO common here were I'M
known in Dakota. The terrible billiards.
keep the prairies swept bare, save in. places
where great drifts, often twenty feet high,
catch the fakes. One night in December there
eame arain. A sudden change, and the frost
turned the whole prairie into q skating rink.
Coldi
Wei, I should conjecture; Al degs. below
zero. sGS
"Go,' said I to the utility boy belonging to
tho botei, go and bring me some wood, I'm
freezing. Col"
sHNot much, ~rnisterf'
aWhy, you fractions little r~eprobatelp I
exclaimed. "How dare yonlpf
swell, l wasn't hired in this hero hotel TO
freeze. an the man what sticks his nose out
doors this mornin' is a goner. Jes+Tu.sa- lem,
but it's co.d.n AQ3 ss6a
.You rascal" ! roareds picking up my cap,
ovsrcoat and gloves, II suppose I'll AVE to
do your work and pay yon for doing H." end
INwent out in q towering rage. opened the
front door n dcouldn't SEQ across tho street.
Tho wind was blowing from all directions
End the falling snow blinded mt as il whiFled
and curved. / stepped out, and Town I went
Oh the wooden platform In front of the hotel.
A soft, summary sephyr came tearing along
from four directions, spun me round and
hurled and whirled me Off upon the cold and
cruel ground. struggled to rise. Mockeryl
] struggled again, and was plunged back
with o dull, ~unsanitary thud that made mo
sick. I howled to the hotel keeper. The pit
iless blizzardsb bore away my voice to the tut
ter1most ends of the earth, and I suppose